Print

[hargle]

Wearing your fingers to the bone collecting screenshots for all your emulator ROMs?

Why not download whole batches from this site:

Screen Shot Archive

They've got complete sets of all all console roms, downloadable in a few zip files per console.  Handy!

All images use goodtools name formatting, so it's easy to compare your ROM collection against the screenshots.

For xport emulators, you will need to do a little work in converting the *.png filename into a folder of that name, then move the screenshot into the folder and rename it 0001.png.  You may also need to truncate the folder name down to Xbox's 42(?) character limit before uploading.

In a few minutes with a text editor that can handle column cut/paste, I had a batch file to do all the conversions for me.  It's no big deal to do.

This site has saved me many, many hours of screenshot capturing.
If they had a donate button, I'd send 'em some cash.  Heck, they even have box cover scans.

I am in no way affiliated with this website, just trying to help out fellow emu enthusiasts.





 <

[chadffx2]

I want to use the game covers from that site but I was wondering do I need to change the images to a certain size to show up right on the emulators? <

[hargle]

QUOTE(chadffx2 @ Jan 13 2005, 01:22 AM)

I want to use the game covers from that site but I was wondering do I need to change the images to a certain size to show up right on the emulators?

I believe there are screenshot re-sizing capabilities built into xport's emulators.  If you go into some of the skin configuration menus, you can setup and adjust the screenshot size and position on the screen when in the ROM browser.

It looked to me like all the box cover scans from that site were all at the same size/resolution, so if you can get 1 box scan to show up properly, the rest of them should work out the same.  

You can probably also get an image re-size tool that works in batch mode, just in case.


My eventual goal is to move the screenshot and box covers into the dashboard (I use XBMC) and have the browsing done there, then launch each game via command line arguments.  Unfortunately, I don't think XBMC does command line parameter passing yet when something is launched, but that's what makes the hobby all the more fun-figuring out new ways of organizing the games!  (I spend more time organizing and tweaking than actually playing)

 <

[Rion]

How to Transfer the ScreenShots over to the Xbox:

Example:

Download the all ScreenShots for Nes.

Put the Snaps Screenshots in a seperate folder
Put the Titles Screenshots in a seperate folder

Like this

C:\Screenshots
C:\ScreenShots Titles

Because all Screenshots are in  Goodtools  naming format they only work for goodtools sets.

Download the latest GoodNES 201 set

Move all the files from the Rom collection in to the Root of a new folder without
\USA
\Japan
and so on..

All roms in the the "root of a new folder"

Use Goodtools to rename all the files "without the directorys" to Fatx file format.

Now download Generic Artwork Renamer 1.0 http://www.screenshotarchive.com/files/gen...ork_renamer.zip

Create 2 new Dirs

Example:

C:\Nes ScreenShots
C:\Nes ScreenShots Titles

Use Generic Artwork Renamer 1.0 to first converting all the screenshots by using your Romfolder as a source.

Then the Same thing but now for the Titles.

Ok now both folder's have ScreenShots and Titles that has the same name as your Roms.

You can now use GoodTools and Force all the Files (Again, yes Again) to Fatx file format and use the Directory sort. Now transfer all the files to the Xbox (FCEUltra Romfolder)

Ok now for the tricky part..

Xport emus use a somewhat own way of sorting ScreenShots.

Lets say you take a screenshot of Super Mario 1.0 USA
A folder will be created with the name of the Rom and a png file with the name 0001.png.

Example:
e:\Screenshots\FCEUltra\Nes\Super Mario 1.0 USA\0001.png

Maby now you understand why this is necessary.

Ok now go in to the folder

C:\Nes ScreenShots

Use winrar to pack all the files in to seperate files. Zip, Rar makes no difference.

Now Select all the files again an let winrar extract ala the files to seperate folder.
Remove the Zip/Rar files.

Now you have all the png files in a folder with the same name as the "png" file.

Do the same for your Titles!

Now use a file renamer program to rename all the png files in the folder

C:\Nes ScreenShots

to 0001.png

Ok done..

Now do the same thing for the folder

C:\Nes ScreenShots Titles

But this time rename them to 0002.png

Now Move all the files from the folder  C:\Nes ScreenShots Titles  to C:\Nes ScreenShots and overwrite all i Windows/Linux or whatever says the folder allready has folder that are the same as Nes ScreenShots Titles.

Now for example Super Mario 1.0 USA has two files in its folder.
One 0001.png file (Screenshot) and one 0002.png (Title Screenshot)

Now copy all the files and folder from C:\Nes ScreenShots to
Expample: e:\Screenshots\FCEUltra\Nes\

Restart your Xbox.

Start FCEultra and now the games have Screenshots and titles..

If you want you can add Boxscans and Cart Scans if you want to.

The files name are then 0003.png and 0004.png..


/Rion    

This post has been edited by Rion: Jan 13 2005, 06:29 PM <

[Rion]

Oh forgot.. You can zip down your roms first before you convert the screenshots, titles, box and cart scans. GoodTools will work with them to..
Saves alot of space on the xbox.. <

[JoeyJoeJo]

QUOTE(Rion @ Jan 13 2005, 06:01 PM)

Oh forgot.. You can zip down your roms first before you convert the screenshots, titles, box and cart scans. GoodTools will work with them to..
Saves alot of space on the xbox..

What's meant by zip down?  Does that mean put all of your .nes or .smc files into zip files? <

[hargle]

QUOTE(Rion @ Jan 13 2005, 05:44 PM)

C:\Nes ScreenShots Titles

But this time rename them to 0002.png

...
If you want you can add Boxscans and Cart Scans if you want to.

The files name are then 0003.png and 0004.png..

Brilliant!  I forget offhand which buttons flip between different screenshots inside the rom chooser, but this is an excellent way to be able to see a box cover, screenshot and title screen quite handily.  

The file folder naming is truly a pain in the cheeks though.

I'd think that someone skilled in the arts of programming could easily whip up a program that compares a .png to a .rom, and if both exist, it just makes a xbox compatible folder, moves the png into it and renames it.

It can almost be done via batch file:

if exist "%1".png md "%1"
if exist "%1".png move "%1".png "%1"\0001.png

Call that batch file recursively with a list of the .ROMs in the folder and you're almost there...

 <

[Rion]

QUOTE(JoeyJoeJo @ Jan 13 2005, 10:21 PM)

What's meant by zip down?  Does that mean put all of your .nes or .smc files into zip files?

Yes FCEUltra has support for *.Zip files. <

[Rion]

QUOTE(hargle @ Jan 13 2005, 10:31 PM)

Brilliant!  I forget offhand which buttons flip between different screenshots inside the rom chooser, but this is an excellent way to be able to see a box cover, screenshot and title screen quite handily. 

The file folder naming is truly a pain in the cheeks though.

I'd think that someone skilled in the arts of programming could easily whip up a program that compares a .png to a .rom, and if both exist, it just makes a xbox compatible folder, moves the png into it and renames it.

It can almost be done via batch file:

if exist "%1".png md "%1"
if exist "%1".png move "%1".png "%1"\0001.png

Call that batch file recursively with a list of the .ROMs in the folder and you're almost there...

I Truly hope someone makes a program that can do that.. Xport did a ScreenShot renamer for GameBase for C64 but that only works with GameBase64.
 <

[hargle]

QUOTE(Rion @ Jan 13 2005, 11:09 PM)

I Truly hope someone makes a program that can do that.. Xport did a ScreenShot renamer for GameBase for C64 but that only works with GameBase64.

ok, so I did.
It's pretty rough, and has had very, very little (ok, none at all) test time, but you can do that for me!  

xrenamer

This is a DOS based program that'll compare .zip files (roms) against screenshots (.png) and create/move the png into its own directory.

Unfortunately, it only defaults to 0001.png, so this will not work too well for box covers or other scans.  (I'll add this feature later or you can just hex edit the .exe and change it!)

Check the text file out for usage, report any bugs here and I'll fix 'em up.
I'll probably release the source if people find it to be useful.


Good luck.  
 <

[madmab]

Hehe that reminds me... I need to check and see if my screenshot archive needs updating.  That sight is a great site.

Thanks for the tool, that batch example created above BTW could actually be done.  Either with two seperate .bat files for Win98 or a single batch for Win2000/XP.

Good idea about having the box and cart scans named with a diff number.  It is a good alternative since the xbox emu's do not support seperate pics for cart and box scans.
 <

[Jincman]

If someone can figure out the hard and fast rules that Goodtools use when renaming for XBox, I would be totally willing to code/help code a tools to help rename screenshots/titles.

Better yet . . . we should do the rename and archive the files and post them somewhere. A lot of people use the XBox as an emulation station.

Just some thoughts <

[chadffx2]

the screenshot archive needs to be updated though for games that are in japanese or translated cause I noticed for snes there wasn't Tales of Phantasia, Seiken Deiktsu 3 (sp?), Bahamut Lagoon, and for nes Final Fantasy 2 and 3. I know there are more that need to be included but these are just a few <

[Rion]

QUOTE(hargle @ Jan 14 2005, 10:07 PM)

ok, so I did.
It's pretty rough, and has had very, very little (ok, none at all) test time, but you can do that for me!   

xrenamer

This is a DOS based program that'll compare .zip files (roms) against screenshots (.png) and create/move the png into its own directory.

Unfortunately, it only defaults to 0001.png, so this will not work too well for box covers or other scans.  (I'll add this feature later or you can just hex edit the .exe and change it!)

Check the text file out for usage, report any bugs here and I'll fix 'em up.
I'll probably release the source if people find it to be useful.
Good luck.

Tested Xrename with my Nes collection (GoodNES_201) and the Box Scans from screenshotarchive. File: Boxscans_NES_Fronts_(USA)_28May04.rar

Roms Zip'ed and using Xbox filesystem renamed using goodtools naming
conventions.

Nothing happens. No folders, no png 0001.png... <

[hargle]

QUOTE(Rion @ Jan 16 2005, 04:50 AM)

Tested Xrename with my Nes collection (GoodNES_201) and the Box Scans from screenshotarchive. File: Boxscans_NES_Fronts_(USA)_28May04.rar

Roms Zip'ed and using Xbox filesystem renamed using goodtools naming
conventions.

Nothing happens. No folders, no png 0001.png...

Hmmmmmm.
it's possible that goodtool's xbox convention named files don't match the goodtools PC naming convention of the png files.

xrenamer needs a 1:1 filename match between romname.zip and romname.png before it'll do anything.    Since I share all my ROMs using relax, I haven't renamed the actual roms to xbox format because none of them are physically on the xbox...

Anyway, I'll do some actual testing here today and see if I can find anything, otherwise we might have to take Jincman up on his offer to write something.

sorry it didn't twork for ya.

 <